Set the Tone and Begin Your Day with JOY

Set the Tone and Begin Your Day with JOY

When I reflect on the toll the last seven months have had on my life, I found myself living in the negative as opposed to the positive. Something that personally does not fall within the scope of how I ordinarily perceive things.
The end of 2017 brought a series of events that completely change my world and turned it upside down. Unfortunately, my mother has taken ill and is slowly deteriorating. I suddenly found myself going to bed in negative thought and waking up the following morning with the same mindset. I had become a recluse, declining any and all invitations to socialize, ignored phone calls and once the day would come to a close, I would sit back and continue to fill my mind with negative thoughts or watching television programing that continued to keep a dim light around me. This could not continue. I felt a colossal need to change my frame of thinking. I needed to once again become aware of the beauty in life and appreciate it.
Whether you are having a good day or an off day, the importance of gratitude and appreciation can shift your mood, and, sometimes even those around you. My focus needed to shift. I needed to appreciate the remarkable fact that we are alive and what that means. How could I try to turn the tables and reassess how I could start and end my day with joy? I needed to see life in a new light, so suddenly I began to be grateful.
A few small changes that dramatically altered my outlook on life and are allowing me to re-frame what I once thought was an impenetrable foundation of gratitude and spirituality. There is some difficulty in “getting back on the positivity horse,” but it is possible. We all have a fundamental responsibility to help one another, but that cannot happen without helping ourselves first. Even when your plate is full try to see the bigger picture. In my case, I began to not dwell on my mother’s situation, but to be grateful that I am able to care for her. That I can hold her hand and show her every bit of the attention and love she has given her children through the years. I am grateful for the strength she passed down to her children and her tenacious work ethic. I am appreciative of yesterday’s beautiful afternoon and grateful I could walk in the sun. Grateful that my children, through it all are resilient and grateful for their academic performance.
It’s the idea of experiencing the idea of being as opposed to existing. Living your best life now is being excited about the great things life should offer, no matter how big or how small. It’s yours to love, appreciate and be thankful for. Let’s all try to start our day with a little JOY.